New House

Here I am, writing this post from our new house in Eden, Utah.  Trust me when I say the name is entirely accurate.  Outside my window I see a giant field of bright yellow dandelions, which despite the whole dandelion thing are actually quite lovely and cheery.  Beyond that is a few homes - not too close - and in the distance are some still-snow-covered peaks.  The sky is blue, the grass is green, the trees are starting to leaf out.  It's gorgeous, glorious spring!

But let me remind you that we lived in an amazingly beautiful place before, too.  One that we loved dearly and were sad to leave behind.  One where the mountains were right next door, and a river ran (practically) through our back yard.  One where we had our first baby, Callie June, and watched her first two years of life develop.  One where we had dear ward friends who substituted as family since we were so far away from our own.  One where our family came to visit and explore with us for vacation.  One where so many people came to vacation . . . but we got to live there year-round!

So, why the change?  We didn't have to move in the sense that Gregg had a job change or we could no longer afford it or anything like that.  But the thought had been on our mind for a long time, and we just felt that now was the right time to make the move.  Here in Eden, we are happy to be within an hour and a half of both sets of grandparents (and a lot of great-grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles, too).  We're happy to have no shared walls and a lot more space to spread out.  We're happy to have a "yard" to work in, seemingly endless quiet streets and trails to explore, and a huge park just a block away.  We're happy to be somewhere where the cost of living is such that we can save (a lot) more money and eventually (soon, we hope) buy a house to really set down some roots.

So yes, it was hard to say goodbye to our life in Colorado - bittersweet has been a word we've used a lot over the past couple of months - but here we are, jumping into a new adventure in what is surely the Garden of Eden.

First load - garage stuff and weirdly shaped stuff  and stuff we won't
need for a few weeks - in my dad's truck early in April.

Gregg's mom came out on the Amtrak train to help on Thursday.
(Side note, this photo was taken just minutes after I got to the station
and locked my keys in my car - so frustrating! Kim saved the day
right off the bat by using her AAA membership to get us unlocked
and on our way, and we figured we only lost about 15 minutes
off our previously scheduled plans from the delay.  Truly a miracle -
one of many we experienced in our weekend moving adventure.)

Bobbi and Evee Brook helped Cal clean the windows while
the menfolk from the ward were loading the truck.

That's most of our stuff (minus two mattresses
that we slept on that night as well as some
other miscellany we threw in Friday morning)
and still there's room to spare!  Good tetris skills,
Gregg! 

Cal was happy to have Evee around to play with that night.
Evee has been one of my favorites (I know I'm not supposed to have
favorites) in primary this past year.  She'll be moving into YW
in a couple weeks and I'm so excited for her!

Some of the others who came to help: The Jeremies (Slade on the left
and  Huntley on the right) and Bishop Webb (back to us).

The Elders stopped by, too.  Not pictured, but present: Heather
Hay and Chris Brook.  And the Rosenfelds stopped by to say goodbye
after everyone was done and gone.

The next morning, after all the final cleaning and packing was done.
(Minus the ristra hanging in the kitchen that we accidentally left . . .
again - it got left behind in Logan when we moved to CO, too but was
rescued by my mom before the apartment was reoccupied.)

One last outside shot - complete with our Budget truck in the driveway.

Packed car!

Park stop in Green River - a must for an antsy toddler (and
pregnant momma).  Cal found some treasures to show Grandma.

Good morning, Eden!  Gregg's view Saturday morning when he
woke up in our new house.  That wasn't exactly the plan, but he
ended up driving straight through after work, pulling in the driveway
after midnight in the pouring rain.  So nice to wake up to a scene
like that!

There's that trusty truck, this time in the Eden driveway.

Home sweet home at "Cowies New House!"

And here is Cal in her new room.

Unpacking party with the cousins and aunties - Cal was in heaven!

Looks like Grandma is in heaven here.  :)

Now for a little tour.  Hang tight, there are still a grundle of photos to go!

Outside front view - this photo is actually not entirely accurate as
I'm pretty sure the tree in front of the door is dead and the neighbor,
Stan, has a new (as of this week) green garbage can that he parks in
the same spot.  We got this pic from the web to show our fam
when we first signed the lease in March.

View from the northwest corner of the house,
looking northwest-ish.

Same view Gregg saw, just a couple days later.  This is from the
front porch.

Standing at the end of our driveway
(on garbage day) and looking
right will give you this view.

And this is what you see when you look left
from the same spot.

Looking up from the driveway gives you this.
These trees are stinkin' tall!

And, of course, from the end of the driveway looking back at the
house, you see this.

This is the "yard" on the east side of the house,
looking north to the rest of the property.  It stretches
way back there past that red shed thing you can see
through the trees.  It stops just before the big barn
visible in the upper left side of the photo.

Another view of the jungle, looking north east from the northwest
corner of the house.

This is Stan's house, up the lane that goes in front
of our house.

Some pretty "wild" tulips growing along the east
fence line.  This is looking from the southeast corner
of the lot looking north.

Here's our back porch, freshly sweeped and windows washed after
the painters have been here all week.  (Trust me, the house needed
a fresh coat!)  The doors on the left lead right into the kitchen and
the doors on the right lead into the great room.  The window on the left
is over the sink.

Another view of the deck area (and door into the garage) from
the great room doors.

And why don't we head inside, while we're at it?  This post isn't long enough as it is, let's just add even more photos to the tour!

Looking from the kitchen into the great room.  The double doors
that lead to the deck are just out of the frame on the right.
Just out of frame on the left is a door that leads to the laundry/
ultility/storage room.

In the same doorway, just looking back into the kitchen.

Same doorway, looking into the front room.

At the other end of the kitchen/front room is this
giant, long, hallway.  Cal's room is the first door on
the right, our room is at the end on the right.  First on
the left is Dos's, then there's a linen closet, and then
a bathroom.

Dos's room is full of stuff right now - including all the broken closet
doors from the rest of the house.  Another quirk?  That window looks
directly into the garage.

Cal's room when it's all "put together".

Our room/Gregg's office.

Hallway bathroom.

Master bathroom with a long closet on the right,
opposite the vanity.

And here we are again, back down the hall with another view of
the kitchen.

Whew!  You made it.  Welcome to our new home!  As you can see, we have plenty of space for you to roll out a sleeping bag, so come visit!